Sleep
by heavenbenttotakemyhand
Summary: Kensi tells Deeks not to spend the night at the hospital with her. Timeline is skewed but starts with Kensi's meltdown in Crazy Train and continues until Kensi is home with her moms in Sirens. I do not own NCIS LA or its characters.
1. Chapter 1

_**Thanks for reading!**_

Deeks walked into his house and leaned back against the closed door with a sigh. He ran his hand through his hair as he surveyed the front room. He thought last time he had left the house in a hurry- hastily deciding to leave his dirty dishes on the table. But the table was clean now.  
"No. No. No!" and then "MOM?" He yelled but got no response. He ran halfway up the stairs and yelled again but still got no response. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Kensi's brown and orange woven placemats and a ceramic cornucopia decorated the table. At least he had labeled Kensi's holiday decoration boxes so there was still a possibility that his Mom hadn't dug through ALL of Kensi's stuff. He could hope. And never ever, under pain of death, tell Kensi.

He stretched his arms above his head and yawned. He was going to sleep well tonight. He couldn't wait to feel his mattress cradle his body as he slept for ten, no twelve hours.  
"Stinky," he thought as he caught a whiff of his armpits, but went into the kitchen to find some dinner before heading upstairs to the shower.

"What?" he said aloud as he opened the refrigerator door. One by one he pulled out covered dishes. Opening them up he found cookies, brownies, what looked like his mom's lasagna, Kensi's mom's chicken enchilada casserole, what might have one point been a potato salad, and a few other things that needed to go into the trash. He ate a chocolate chip cookie while digging through the produce drawer for a few fruits and veggies to throw in the blender. Scrounging for food at the hospital made him crave healthy food.

While sipping his smoothie from the blender pitcher, he looked at the food spread out on the counter. With his foot he opened the drawer with all their disposable plastic containers. Too late, he noticed the smoothie had splattered on the front of his shirt and onto the floor. Where was Monty when you needed him? He thought, missing his faithful friend.

After cleaning out the blender pitcher, he pulled the disposable containers out and then opened the drawer with their copious stash of assorted sporks and napkins that came with their takeout orders. "We're going to need them one day," Kensi always insisted. "Don't throw them away."

"You mean one day when you decide you don't want to empty the clean dishes out of the dishwasher and the stack of dishes in the sink is ready to topple over?" Deeks smiled as he remembered his retort and the subsequent food fight it had caused. Fortunately Monty had been there to help clean up. He really needed to get over to visit Monty.

Checking his watch, he thought eight hours of sleep was really all he needed anyway. He heated and then boxed up the food, adding a cookie or brownie to each, and loaded up a dozen Whole Food and Ralph's paper bags with the bounty. Some bottles of water would be perfect too, he thought, retrieving them from the pantry and adding them to the bags.

"Artie's going to spread some Thanksgiving cheer a little early," he said to himself with a hearty Artie laugh as he added sporks and napkins to each bag.

He brought the food out to his truck and grabbed his Artie overcoat and hat from where he had stashed it in the garage. After one whiff, he threw the coat and hat in the back of the truck.  
About a block away from the house, Deeks startled a couple out walking their dog by yelling "Fraggle Rock!" out his open window. He had just realized he still had Kensi's engagement ring in his pocket. "Sorry!" he yelled as he decided he didn't need to turn around. The ring would be safe in his pocket.

Deeks had handed out several bags of food to random homeless people he ran into down by the beach with little fanfare. If he were honest with himself, he enjoyed the rants of homeless Artie.

Then he came upon a young woman with two children. She drew her children close to her as he approached. With his Artie homeless man charm, he knelt down and started opening up the food containers and tentatively handing them to the mom for her approval. As the mom took a few bites and then handed the food to the children, he noticed a book sitting on the ground next to the young boy.  
Deeks picked it up and started reading, "Are You My Mother?" The kids squealed with delight at the sound effects he added to the story and demanded that he read it a second time. The second time, to their amazement, he read it to them in Spanish.

As he was reading he saw two shadowy figures cross in front of the alley and then double back. He continued reading as he scanned the alley. He gestured to the mother, who was also alerted to the movement. She grabbed the preteen girl by the arm and pushed her behind her. The girl knelt down and disappeared under her mother's long jacket. Deeks scooted over, positioning himself in front of the young boy. He took the knife from Artie's inside jacket and handed it to the mother.

"Give us the girl!" A man suddenly demanded. He raised a metal pipe over them threateningly. A second man stood behind with a baseball bat.

Deeks stood up, staggering slightly, arms raised. "Whoa, whoa. Wasss going on here?" He had just realized he had left his gun in his truck.

As the men approached and ripped the girl from her mother's arms, Deeks spied their accomplices at the end of the alley. Without his gun, he only had one way of defending the girl.

"Let me buy her back from you," Artie suggested, hands in the air and weaving a little bit.

"You ain't got no money," the ringleader said, laughing. He pushed the girl towards the waiting men at the end of the alley.

"I got DIAMONDS!" Artie yelled, "DIAMONDS! NOT JUST ONE DIAMONDS- I GOT TWO DIAMONDS!" Deeks pulled the ring out of his jeans pocket and hoped this wasn't the last time he got to hold it.

The men approached Deeks again. He wanted to give the girl the sign to run but one of the men was holding her by the arm. He had to hope they would take the ring.

"This here is the best friends' engagement ring," Artie said, stumbling towards the men who held the girl. "See- it has two diamonds, not just one. I'll give it to you if you let the girl go."

One of the men pulled out his cell phone and shone its light on the diamond. The two men seemed impressed and one reached for the ring.

"Occifer," Deeks slurred, looking and lurching towards the opposite end of the alley as he clumsily dropped the ring. The men bolted without looking to see that there was in fact no police officer in sight. But there was one on his speed dial so Deeks pulled out his cell phone as he followed the men. As he rounded the corner he found the girl on the ground. "Tell your mother to stay here. I'll have someone here soon to help you find a safe place to stay tonight."

Deeks breathed a sigh of relief as the men were taken into custody. Time for a shower and to finally get some sleep.

Hetty tucked him in on the mission's more comfortable couch with a soft blanket that she had brought in to prevent her agents from using her historic tapestries as blankets.  
"What does Kensi need?" Hetty asked before she left him to his sleep.

"A reformer would be nice."

"Good idea! I'll call Nate. He's our reformer."

"Oh, no, I meant a Pilates reformer. For exercising. It would help Kensi build up her strength."

"I'll see what I can do. But I'll also be calling Nate. If nothing else I need to find out exactly what he's been up to the past six months or so. He's been rather cagey," Hetty looked pensive as she patted Deeks on the head and left the building for the night.

Deeks lay on the couch with his hands behind his head and a smile on his face. He missed the volunteer work he used to do with the homeless and it felt good to get out there and help them again. In a way it seemed very simplistic compared to what he faced at NCIS most days. He set the alarm on his phone to wake him up in plenty of time to appear to be the first person to work. He was going to enjoy the five hours of sleep he would get. His last thought was of Kensi, wondering how she spent her night without him. Hopefully it didn't involve her new friend Sullivan.


	2. Chapter 2

Kensi shifted in bed and picked up her phone when it vibrated. The text read, "Boogie Man Room 598".

She looked down at the ugly Christmas sweater she was still wearing. The drip of nonalcoholic egg nog she'd spilled on it was barely noticeable, she rationalized, even as she knew it looked disgusting on the tip of the pompom that served as the reindeer's nose. Deeks had heard about the Ugly Christmas sweater party and made sure she was appropriately attired.

His light blue LLhamakkah sweater would have to wait for another party. After her snit this afternoon she'd decided to give him the night off. Away. From her. She was angry at everyone and everything today and she shouldn't have taken it out on him. Of course everyone was going to say she was depressed. So she had to go to the party even though she didn't want to and she had to answer the call to fight off the boogie man from whatever child was scared in Room 598 even though she was so tired she could barely move. Because she was not depressed. Not Kensi Blye. No way. With a sigh, she got out of bed and walked to her tiny closet. Might as well get this over with.

She heard the noise from the doorway but had no intention of acknowledging it.

"Come on Wonder Woman," Sullivan rallied, "We've got a Boogie Man on the fifth floor that needs to boogie."

"You're a boogie," was Kensi's reply.

"No, I'm Batman. Now get dressed and let's go."

Kensi grumbled but took her costume into the bathroom to change. Fortunately the hospital frowned on scanty costumes so she could just slip the Wonder Woman T shirt over her head. Without Deeks to help her tonight she'd be sleeping in her sports bra.

Sullivan was sitting in his wheelchair with his head resting against the doorframe when she finally made it out of the bathroom.

"Boots. Wristbands. Headband," he said. She pulled them out of her closet. They'd have to stop at the nurses' station for help with those. It was one thing to work through Activities of Daily Living and another to get to the boogie man in a timely manner.  
"What's wrong with you?" She finally noticed. "No prosthetic?"

Sullivan just shrugged his shoulders. "Must be that time of the month," he snarked.  
"Well you better perk up," she warned, "or someone will decide you're depressed."

"No shit," was his only response.

Just then the call came over the hospital's PA system. "All superheroes please report to the fifth floor."

"Let's roll," Sullivan said, "just sit down in my lap and we'll get moving."  
"In your dreams Sullivan, in your dreams," Kensi said without enthusiasm as she pushed him out into the hall and headed to the nurses' station. She was tired; she would take it easy on him. Tonight.

Once Kensi's outfit was perfected by the nurse on duty, the two hurried to the elevator.

"We should be taking the stairs," Kensi pointed out. Secretly she was glad they didn't.

"I hate you," Sullivan replied, startling the doctor exiting the elevator as they got in it.

"Well you're the one who decided he has to climb to the top of the Empire State Building," Kensi pointed out.

"And I will, too, just you wait and see. But first I'm going to beat you to the room," Sullivan said, pulling down his Batman mask and adjusting his black cape before propelling himself swiftly down the hall.

Later Kensi watched the small boy sleep, secretly glad for her assignment to scare the boogie man away. Or dinosaurs, in this case. Kensi had the pleasure of using the "death ray" to kill them. She and Sullivan had come up the idea over lunch one day. It was just a headlamp with a red light in it but it had remarkable success at convincing the children that their monsters were dead.

"Psst," Sullivan gestured towards the door. Kensi shifted off the bed slowly and followed him out the door.

"That was easier than the last one," Sullivan remarked.

"Easy but not easy. Here I am feeling sorry for myself and then I see what these kids are going through…."

"Yeah. I know what you mean."

"See you in the morning. Gym at 10?" The elevator door opened and they exited, Kensi heading towards her room but turning back to ask.

"Actually I have orders to see you to your room, Special K," Sullivan informed her.

"You have 'orders'?" Kensi asked, incredulous. "Well I'm ordering you to go to your own room because I am not entertaining any guests tonight."

Sullivan just raised his eyebrows and waved goodbye.

As she entered her room, Kensi saw a dark figure sitting on the couch. Did Deeks come back after all? She flipped on the light switch.

"What the hell have you been doing?" Granger asked, looking at her costume. "Never mind, I don't want to know."

"Good to see you too, Assistant Director," Kensi said sarcastically. She was really tired all of a sudden and not up for visitors. Why did she have to send Deeks away tonight? He could banter with Granger all night long, even half asleep. She just wanted to fall face first into bed. She settled for sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Where's Deeks?" Granger demanded.

"Home tonight."

Granger walked over and closed the door.

"I need you on your game here, Ms. Blye. This situation with the mole is escalating and we can't take any chances. Now Hetty thinks you're safe here as long as you're armed. I also have a safe room prepared upstairs for you should the need arise."

Kensi took the weapons he offered. She looked pensive.

"Spit it out Blye," Granger ordered.

"Callen identified a room on the third floor that would allow access to the laundry room through the duct work. Should I move to that room so that I have an alternate exit?"

"Not tonight. But let's get a screwdriver near that ductwork just in case."

"Maybe I should be at home," Kensi suggested hopefully.

"Are you ready?"

"Absolutely," she said with utmost certainty.

"Okay, I'll have Hetty speed up the process then." Granger sat back down on the couch. "Deeks has been sleeping on this thing?"

"Yup."

"Well I can only stay an hour or two. Turn on the TV; it will help me fall asleep." Granger could see the "No" written all over Kensi's face. He set the alarm on his phone.

Just then someone knocked on the door. Granger looked at Kensi. She shrugged. Granger got up and opened the door, his hand behind his back on his weapon.

"Oh, hi," Sullivan started, surprised to see Kensi had a visitor. "I um, just wanted to tell you, um, Kensi that I, um, thought we should walk down the stairs to the uh, gym tomorrow morning."

"You couldn't text me?" Kensi replied smartly.

"Right. So. I'll uh, see you tomorrow morning then." Sullivan nodded to Granger before spinning around in his wheelchair and speeding down the hallway.

Granger closed the door. "Who the hell was that?"

"He's a Marine. He was injured by an IED in Afghanistan."

"Did he know that Deeks wasn't going to be here tonight?"

"I… guess so." Kensi thought a moment. "Yes, I definitely told him Deeks would not be here. And I definitely told him I didn't want his company tonight. That jerk." She said a few choice words in her head.

"We need to be cautious about everyone at this point," Granger pointed out.

"Of course," Kensi replied. She grabbed her sweats and headed into the bathroom to change. She might even be aggravated enough at Sullivan to get that bra off all by herself.

Once she got in bed she immediately fell asleep. The next morning she thought she had probably been dreaming that Granger had leaned over and kissed her on the forehead before leaving. She doubted it was Callen, who now had the pleasure of sleeping on Deek's dingy hospital couch.


	3. Chapter 3

Kensi leaned back in the bathtub, thinking about how slowly the days went by when she was in the hospital and how quickly today had flown by. Even though she'd already exhausted herself on her morning run when Sullivan came by, she figured she could handle walking up a few steps. Especially since he dared her to beat him. The nerve of that guy.

The Santa Monica Canyon stairs had proven challenging for both of them. She was used to be able to run up that many stairs and now she had to stop and rest every few minutes. Even going down the steps was a challenge. She had to really focus on using the muscles in both legs and not just swinging that left leg and powering through with the right.

Hardest of all was being so darn slow; everyone else was passing them by on the way up AND the way down. She and Sullivan goaded each other to help pass the time. Sometimes she couldn't tell if she really meant her insults or if he meant his all too well.

Sullivan had wanted to go to a wine bar afterwards but she shot that down. Which reminded her-she had promised herself she'd drive into the Mission and practice shooting with her left hand.

It was sooo nice to be home, in her own tub. No constant noise, no constant interruptions. Her right hand was helping her enjoy the privacy of home when she thought she heard a noise downstairs. Her eyes went to the gun hidden above the medicine cabinet. Maybe it was Deeks and he could pick up where she left off. She listened but didn't hear Deeks or one of the moms for that matter, call out to her.  
Damn it! She wasn't going to be able to rest until she knew what that sound was. Had she been away so long she no longer knew the creaks and groans the house made?

As quietly as she could she got out of the bathtub, did a quick towel dry and put on her bathrobe. Not the best way to meet an intruder but with the Glock in her hand they didn't have a chance. She put her ear up against the door but didn't hear anything.

The kitchen was still a disaster from her attempt at making dinner but nothing looked out of place. She went around checking that all the windows were locked and the doors were secured. Was that Sullivan's truck down the street? No, it couldn't be. Maybe she was just overtired and that was why she was jittery. Something just didn't feel right.

With a sigh she started cleaning up the kitchen. As she started towards the stairs she noticed the beer bottles on the table. She thought they had each had one beer but Sullivan must have had two. No wonder she had been so impatient for Sullivan to leave. That guy could not take a hint. She left the three bottles where they were and headed upstairs to get take a short nap and get dressed for her outing.

Later, Deeks walked into the empty house. The four beer bottles on the table mocked him. Kensi had texted to tell him she'd gone out with Sullivan. He'd be glad to go climb steps with her or ride bikes or hike or sit around and drink beer for that matter. But no, she went out with Sullivan. He picked up the bottles and dumped them into the recycling bin in the garage.

He slowly made his way up the stairs. Maybe a quick shower would perk him up. He'd texted Kensi to ask if she wanted to go out for dinner but hadn't heard back.  
He almost missed the partial dirty foot print on the third to last stair from the top. Definitely not his boot print and much bigger than Kensi's or one of the mom's would be. Instinctively he reached into his back waistband and pulled out his gun. Why the hell would Kensi have invited Sullivan upstairs?

The last room he cleared was the bathroom. Why had Kensi left the bathtub full of water? He pushed the Glock above the medicine cabinet back slightly so that it couldn't be seen in the over the sink mirror. Why had she moved the gun? Had something spooked her? He took one more quick look around and then drained the tub.

The warm water pounding against his back helped ease his stress and relax him. After toweling off, he grabbed the bathrobe hanging on the door. Kensi's robe was a little short for him but he was just going to check his phone and lie down on the bed for a minute or two.

He woke up to the overhead light being turned on. Sitting up, he ran his hand through his hair and blinked a few times to adjust to the light.  
"Sorry to wake you."

Deeks sat on the edge of the bed. "That's okay. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"Guess those beers knocked you out," Kensi said, smiling. She leaned over and gave him a kiss.

"What beers? I didn't have any beer."

Kensi was about to put her gun in the bedside table but stopped, remembering the odd noise she had heard downstairs earlier.

"There are two beer bottles on the table downstairs. Didn't you finish up the beer that Sullivan brought over?"

Deeks just shook his head. "There were four beer bottles on the table when I got home and I put them in the recycling."

"There were three beer bottles on the table when I left," Kensi whispered.

Kensi slowly left the bedroom with her gun drawn. Deeks kept an eye on the hall while she cleared the upstairs rooms. Silently they agreed to proceed downstairs, pretending as if nothing were wrong.

"You will LOVE the dinner I made for you," Kensi said with false enthusiasm.

"Let me guess- you made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?" Deeks mocked her. Meanwhile he focused on the back of the house while she had the front, including the reflections on the front windows.

"Let me show you the gourmet meal you are having for dinner, thanks to your beautiful and talented fian- girlfriend."

They continued to clear the rest of the house before going back to the multi colored post it notes on the kitchen counter.

"Thanks for the beer! Might want to check out the lock on the side garage door," Sam had written.

"Left you a six pack in the fridge," Callen had added. "Had a nice chat with that little old lady next door who told me where you hid the extra key to the front door."

Hetty hadn't signed her name but had written that she would restock their tea selection.

"Darn it!" Deeks said as he read the notes. He walked over to the fridge and pulled out the six pack Callen had brought over. "Want one?"

Kensi declined.  
"Well I'm having one before anyone else shows up to break into our house," Deeks said tiredly. He pushed himself up onto the kitchen counter.

"Nice bathrobe," Kensi was appreciating the view.

Deeks took a sip of his beer and looked down at the robe. He opened his legs a little more.

"You like what you see?"

"Mmmm," Kensi replied, positioning herself between his legs and reaching up for a kiss.

Suddenly a voice startled them, seeming to boom from every corner of the kitchen. Deeks jumped off the counter, nearly landing on Kensi's foot.

"Don't forget to check for unwanted surveillance equipment," Nell warned.

Kensi climbed up above the kitchen cabinets to locate the planted bugs. After Deeks helped her down, she ground them under her heels.

Kensi's phone pinged. It was a text message from Nell. "Sorry!" was all it read.

"I'll take the upstairs," Deeks said, heading in that direction.  
Kensi's phone pinged again. "None outside of the kitchen," Nell explained.

Kensi spotted the last of the bugs and ran it down the garbage disposal.

"All clear," Nell texted.

After reinforcing the side garage door lock and taking in the extra key, Kensi headed upstairs to join Deeks.

It was a good thing she and Deeks had each taken a little nap, she thought, smiling. Funny how the whole time she was with Sullivan she was thinking about Deeks and all the fun things they could do now that she was home. Time for some sexy fun time, she thought, suddenly having no trouble bounding up the stairs.


End file.
